H.S. BOYS SOCCER: Gillespie’s overtime goal lifts Oliver Ames

By Scott Roche, Enterprise Correspondent

Thursday

Nov 9, 2017 at 10:03 PMNov 10, 2017 at 3:49 PM

With his team tied 1-1 with Walpole in double overtime, James Gillespie scored his second goal of the game 4:04 in the second sudden death period to lead the Tigers to a 2-1 victory over the Rebels at Muscato Stadium in a Division 2 South Sectional boys soccer quarterfinal.

Sometimes being in the right place at the right time pays off. For Oliver Ames senior James Gillespie, that was the case on Thursday night.

With his team tied 1-1 with Walpole in double overtime, Gillespie scored his second goal of the game 4:04 in the second sudden death period to lead the Tigers to a 2-1 victory over the Rebels at Muscato Stadium in a Division 2 South Sectional boys soccer quarterfinal.

Fourth-seeded Oliver Ames (13-2-4) advances to the semifinals and will play defending Division 2 state champion Nauset (18-1-1) at Milford High School on Saturday at 2 p.m.

“We knew we would need two goals tonight to win the game,’’ Oliver Ames coach John Barata said. “The funny thing is, the game should have been over in the first half, and in the second half as we should have had three or four goals. Walpole is a very good team. We had so many opportunities and didn’t finish.

“The challenge going forward is that we have to learn from this, because this game we could have very easily lost in a game we clearly dominated.’’

Oliver Ames was awarded a corner kick in the second overtime period. Chris Lawrence took the corner that Mason Galbato deflected to Gillespie, who buried his shot alone at the back post to seal the win.

“I saw the ball deflected off of (Galbato) leg and I just ran into the open spot and was able to score before (Walpole) was able to clear it away,’’ Gillespie said. “You’re kind of hiding back there and the defenders don’t sometimes see you. We get some good crosses and I knew that they would be coming and I was able to put a couple in.’’

Said Barata: “James Gillespie has been brilliant at framing the back post. You can’t mark one guy because we have so many kids that can score. Today, for example, James scored two goals and we have 14 different guys who have scored this year.’’

Gillespie opened the scoring in the 17th minute when Matt Campbell sent a cross that Gillespie was able to get a foot on for a 1-0 Oliver Ames lead.

The Tigers had several chances to increase their lead but were unable to convert.

Walpole (10-7-2) tied the score with less than a minute left in regulation. Kevin Sullivan took a throw-in that Luccas Ferreira got his head on. Ferreira flicked the ball into the right corner of the net to tie the score, 1-1.

“In the last two minutes, we weren’t able to clear a couple of balls,’’ Barata said. “They’re coming at us and they were able to get a head on a ball and put it in the corner of the net, but we were able to survive that and win.’’

Neither team was able to score in the first overtime, setting the stage for Gillespie to send the Tigers into the semifinals in a matchup of the past two Division 2 state champions.

“Going to play Nauset on Saturday will be the first time playing in program history,’’ said Barata. “They are obviously the No. 1 team in the state, No. 3 regionally and No. 5 team in the country. We’re going to have our hands full, but we’re looking forward to the challenge and see how we shape up against the best team.’’

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